"It appears, then, from the above numbers, that cows are the most liable to puerperal fever at the fifth parturient period—a fact which is noticed by Mr. Barlow.
"Secondly. At what period after the animal has calved does the disease generally supervene? With reference to this question, the twenty-nine cases stand thus:—
5 cows immediately after parturition.
8 cows in 20 hours after parturition.
6 cows in 23 hours after parturition.
5 cows in 24 hours after parturition.
3 cows in 30 hours after parturition.
2 cows in 36 hours after parturition.
1 cow in 72 hours after parturition.
"It appears, then, from the above, that after the twentieth and twenty-fourth hours, the animals, comparatively speaking, may be considered as safe from the disease; and that after the seventy-second or seventy-third hour, all danger may be considered as past, beyond doubt.
"Thirdly. What is the average rate of mortality amongst cows attacked with this disease? Out of the 29 cases, 12, I find, recovered and 17 died; which loss is equivalent to somewhere about 59 per cent.—a loss which, I am inclined to think, is not so great as that of many other practitioners. [It will be still less if you reject poison as well as the lancet.]
"Mr. Cartwright, in the May number of the Veterinarian of the present year, states that, 'Although I have seen at least a hundred cases, chiefly in this neighborhood, [Whitchurch,] during the last twenty-five years, yet I am almost ashamed to confess that I cannot call to recollection that I ever cured a single case, [neither will you ever cure one as long as the lancet and poison are coöperative,] nor have I ever heard of a case ever being cured by any of the quacks in the neighborhood.' [Of course not, for the quacks follow in the footsteps of their prototypes, the regular veterinary surgeons.]
"Fourthly. What is the best method to pursue with cattle, in order, if possible, to PREVENT the disease? This is a question which I hope to see amply discussed by veterinarians. I have but little to offer respecting it myself; but I labor under a kind of feeling that something valuable may not only be said, but done, by way of prevention. With reference to preventing the disease, Mr. Barlow, in his Essay, says, 'There is a pretty certain preventive in milking the cow some time before calving in full blood-letting before or immediately after; in purgatives, very limited diet, and other depletive measures; each and all tending to illustrate the necessity of a vascular state of the system for its development!'"
Mr. Haycock continues: "So far as my own experience is concerned, it is at variance with almost every one of my observations. In the table which I have given respecting question 2, the reader will recollect that I stated that puerperal fever supervened in five cows immediately after parturition. Now, it is worthy of remark, of these five cases, that every animal had been milked many hours previous to calving. The full udder, under such circumstances, is a powerful excitant to the uterus: this is a well-known fact, and the consequence is, that if this natural excitant be withdrawn, the action of the process at once becomes diminished. I have known many cases, in addition to those already given, where the parturient process was prolonged for hours in consequence of the animal's being milked, in whom fever supervened almost immediately afterwards. The prolonged process, I think, greatly weakens the animal, and, as a natural result, the vital energies become less capable of maintaining their normal integrity. With reference, again, to bleeding and purging as preventives, I have nothing to offer in favor of either mode. I do not believe that they are preventives. [Good, again, doctor: you are one of the right stripe. It would give us pleasure to see a few such as you on this side of the water.] First of all, we require to know what percentage of calving cows are liable to be affected with puerperal fever; then, whether that percentage becomes reduced in number in consequence of such preventive measures being brought into force: these are the only modes whereby the matter can be proved; and, so far as I know, no one has ever brought the question to such a test. That bleeding and purging are considered as preventives by people in general, I know perfectly; but, like many other popular opinions, the thing which is believed requires first to be proved ere it becomes truth.
"I perfectly agree with Mr. Barlow in recommending spare diet. I regard it, in fact, as the great preventive.... When I say spare diet, I do not mean poor diet. The food should be good, but they should not have that huge bulk of matter which they are capable of devouring, and which they appear so much to desire. I should commence the process for eight or ten days prior to calving, or even, with some animals, much earlier; and the diet I would give should consist of beans, boiled linseed, and boiled oats, with occasionally small portions of hay. I should not always feed upon one mixture. I might occasionally substitute boiled barley in place of oats; and when the time for calving was very near at hand, say within a day or so, I should become more sparing with my hay, and more copious with my allowance of bran. With regard to the diet after calving, I should pursue much the same course I have named: perhaps for the first thirty hours I might allow the animal nothing but gruel and bran mash, in which I should mix a little oatmeal, or very thick gruel. I have sometimes thought—but hitherto it has not gone beyond a thought with me—that a broad cotton or linen bandage, fixed moderately tight round the cow's body immediately after calving, might prove of some assistance as a preventive. I have had no experience in its benefit myself; I merely suggest the thing; and if it did nothing more, it would prevent, in some measure, the animal from feeling that sensation of vacuity which must necessarily exist immediately and for some time after calving, and which, I think, under some conditions of the system, may be injurious to the animal. I am told by a medical friend of mine, that he has known puerperal fever produced in women solely from midwives' neglecting to bandage them after delivery; at any rate, a bandage, or a broad belt having straps and buckles attached, and placed securely round the cow's body immediately after calving, and kept there for a day or two, could do no harm, if it failed of doing good.
"Fifthly. Which is the best method of treatment to pursue with cows when attacked with puerperal fever? Upon this question I feel that I could say much; but at present I defer its consideration.... Suffice it to say, then, that I never either bleed or administer purges. I used once to do both, but my experience has shown me, in numerous cases, that neither is necessary.... This malady I have written upon is fearfully destructive; and if such diseases cannot be met with powers capable of wrestling with it, I, for one, shall say that it is a stigma upon our art—I will say that when we are most wanted, we are of the least use."